


Inmost

by Pegas



Category: Echo (Visual Novel 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:29:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27755392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pegas/pseuds/Pegas
Summary: What would have happened, if Chase let Sydney go that day? What would change and what would stay the same?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Birthday Presents

“Is it working now?” Sydney fiddled with the camera some more. Chase was focused on the television screen that currently showed a ‘NO SIGNAL’ message. It was connected to the camera with a cable that slithered all the way to the couch two otters were sitting on.  
“Nope. There’s a red button for record on the top... Yeah that one. Okay I see you now.” Chase tried to stop himself from snickering when he saw the younger otter’s muzzle zoomed in on the screen.  
“Ah shit... where the hell is that zoom button?” Sydney looked back down to the camera once he saw what Chase was laughing at.  
Chase knew very well that he could easily show him where the button is since it was his camera. But then again it was better if Sydney learned how to work it himself. Also there was the fact that it was too much fun to watch the other otter struggle like this. He turned back to the screen that currently showed a close up of Sydney’s new Luche Lobo T-shirt. It was another gift he got today from the Alvarez family. Not only did they insisted on helping this gathering for Sydney’s birthday, they also surprised Mrs. Bronson when they came to their house with a cake.  
Things have been... rather difficult for both Sydney and his mother this year. Both the death of her husband and the fight her son got into with the son of Hunter family took a big toll on her but everyone seemed to try their best to mend the old wounds. Ever since the fight concluded in an unexplained matter the two boys seemed very uncomfortable being close to each other. But that didn’t stop their parents to make them apologize to each other. But after that there was still an unspoken tension that everyone tried so hard to ignore. So even their smallest squabbles were put down by someone just in case.  
“Hah! Finally got it.” Sydney looked at the screen to check if the distance was finally proper. It was and it made the otter grin to his achievement.  
“Took you long enough.” Chase couldn’t help but jab a comment to his way. It wasn’t ill mannered or anything but he usually didn’t get the chance to talk like that to the otter when others were in the earshot. So he was going to take any opportunity he could get.  
“`Ey screw you! As if you figured it out faster than me at your first time.” Sydney scoffed at Chase’s comment.  
“Of course I did. Because unlike you I’m actually into things other than wrestling.” Chase was plain out smirking now.  
“Oh is talking shit one of them? Cuz that’s all you do, muskshit.” Sydney put down the camera and crossed his arms.  
“Alright first of you can’t call me muskshit cuz you are an otter too. My musky ass is your musky ass. Second, you are the one to talk when you have been doing nothing but bully Toby and say stuff behind his back all the time ever since-” Chase cut himself off. There was something brewing in him that he didn’t like. Something that was hungry.  
“Go ahead. Finish that sentence.” Sydney narrowed his eyes. There was a dangerous tinge to his voice now.  
“You know what you did. Most importantly we all know what you did.” Words were just spilling out without control by now and all Chase wanted was to let them flow. To keep his paws around his neck.  
Sydney tensed up, his blunt claws pricking his arms. The tension was so strong that it could be felt in the air like static. Chase clenched his jaw once and then opened it for another verbal attack. That’s when he felt a force hit his face and his world blacked out for a second and stars appeared in front of his eyes. He then felt a weight on his chest. Sydney was sitting on top of him. He felt another punch hit him, then another and another and another.  
“Fuck you. Fuck you! FUCK YOU!” Sydney was screaming now. Throwing punch after punch. Some of them were hitting the ground next to Chase as if he couldn’t see where he was hitting or he didn’t care. That’s when Chase noticed the tears spilling down on the younger otter’s cheeks.  
“Hey!¡Déjalo en paz!” A voice came down roaring and lifted the weight on Chase’s chest like it was nothing.  
Sydney struggled within Leo’s hold even though he knew it was pointless. Whenever the two wrestled, Leo always won with his great advantage in strength. But Sydney didn’t care at that point, he just kept writhing wildly.  
“¡Maldito sea! ¡Enfriarlo! Calm down!” Leo yelled as he tried to keep hold of the otter. He seemed to be struggling because of the otters slippery nature but he was able to keep him still until his mother came into the room with Sydney’s mother.  
“¡Dios mío! ¿Leonardo, que está pasando aqui?” Mrs. Alvarez asked with a concerned tone.  
“¡Mamá! Sydney estaba atacando a Chase.” Leo tried to explain as Mrs. Bronson tried to calm her son.  
“Sydney! Please calm down! Tell me what happened.” She held Sydney but he didn’t struggle like he did when he was in Leo’s hold. He just cried to his mother’s chest.  
Meanwhile, Chase was still laying down on the ground. He couldn’t move a muscle, like the times he got sleep paralysis. He could feel the blood warmly oozing out of his nose. There was also a metallic taste in his mouth like he had a coin in his mouth. His eyes were fixed to the ceiling. Everything was blurry so he was pretty sure he was also crying. So he closed his eyes and tried to tune out the voices next to him until…  
“Chase, are you alright dear?” A soft voice made him open his eyes back. Mrs. Bronson was looking at him with a worried expression. Sydney had stopped crying and was just resting in his mother’s embrace with his eyes closed.  
“No.” is what he would say if he were to say the truth. Except he simply looked back at the ceiling and nodded. He felt tired and just wanted to sleep. But he was bothered again by Leo’s mother when she appeared next to him with a small first aid kit.  
“There there, dear. Let me fix you up. Then we can have some cake, alright?” She said with her heavy accent. That’s better be some good cake to fix something like this, Chase thought.


	2. First Recording

The waiting for the cake was... awkward to say the least. All the group except TJ was at the table. He insisted on helping despite Mrs. Bronson’s protests. He looked between Chase and Sydney before putting the plates in front of them and quickly put the other plates too before returning to the kitchen. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to make them sit so close but Mrs. Alvarez led Chase to the chair at Sydney’s left side. The one which Chase was sitting grumpily at the moment, staring intensely at the plate in front of him.   
“So you two little shits couldn’t stop yourselves from duking it out when I wasn’t around?” Flynn was sitting at Sydney’s right side, laying his back to the chair and leering at the two otters.   
“They weren’t exactly ‘duking out’. More like Sydney was straight up attacking Chase.” Jenna chimed in. She was sitting next to Carl, who was sitting between her and Chase.   
Sydney’s expression hardened but he didn’t say anything and just kept staring at the table just like Chase. Flynn kept staring at the two before scoffing and looking at Leo. He was sitting next to Flynn, with his arms crossed over the table. He wasn’t even trying to hide that he was staring at Sydney.  
“I thought you would keep watch over them while I was away. How did that even happen while all of you were here?” Leo looked puzzled for a second while trying to understand what Flynn said. His English was getting better but it wasn’t good enough to answer quickly yet. So Jenna answered instead.   
“We were all at the table by the time and Leo just joined us. Chase was just showing him how the camera worked. None of us thought this would happen.” Flynn sighed and pinched the bridge of his snout. He was actually excited to come to Sydney’s birthday ‘party’ but he definitely didn’t expect to get greeted with this.   
“The cake is coming!” TJ ran out of the kitchen excitedly and sat beside Leo. His demeanor seemed to easen the tension of the room because both Sydney and Chase actually lifted their heads up to watch Mrs. Alvarez and Mrs. Bronson come in. While Mrs. Alvarez was carrying the cake, Mrs. Bronson was holding the knife. It was a chocolate cake with strawberries and candles on top. It was nothing fancy but still looked delicious.   
They weren’t singing the classic happy birthday song but they were still smiling. Mrs. Alvarez put down the cake in front of Sydney. He looked at the tiny flames with melancholy. He kinda wished his father was there, not particularly because he wanted him there but because his absence was the source reason of this awkward and tense atmosphere. He kinda felt like shit for thinking that way but it was the truth. Hope I will stop feeling like this all the time, he wished wordlessly before blowing out the candles.   
After the cake, the kids started going back to their homes one by one as their parents came to pick them up. They all said their halfhearted birthday wishes before leaving. Carl left first, followed by TJ and Chase. Leo’s mother gave Jenna a ride home and Flynn left last. His wishes were more sincere than the others and he promised to pay Sydney a visit tomorrow.   
Once it was over, Sydney gathered his gifts and went to his room. It wasn’t late but he still felt exhausted. He put them down on his bed before laying down. Except the t-shirt he was wearing there was a poster of his favorite pirate movie from Jenna, a ninja action figure from a cartoon they used to watch from Carl, a pirate story comic from TJ which Sydney was sure he got help from Carl to pick it and a black military cap that is kinda too big for his head from Flynn. “I really thought your head was bigger than this. Eh, you’ll grow into it eventually.” Flynn said when he gave it to him. He was trying to lighten the mood back then but unfortunately it didn’t work as he expected.   
Sydney sighed and sat up on his bed. Looking through his gifts, his eyes stayed on the last one that was given by Chase; the camera. Unlike the other gifts, it made him confused. All the gifts except Flynn’s had been stuff that complimented on his hobbies. They were safe and easy gifts. Flynn actually got him something that he thought would be a cool gift, which Syd appreciated. But then there was Chase’s gift. It was his old camera that Sydney saw him play around with from time to time. Chase said that he decided to give it to him because his parents got him a new one but he still wasn’t sure if that was good enough of a reason to give away something so special. TJ’s birthday was less than two months away. He could have easily kept it for his birthday instead of giving it to him.   
While thinking, Sydney didn’t notice that he was already holding the camera in his paws. He opened the small side screen and turned the device on. He lifted it up and started recording his room. He slowly moved the camera’s lens panoramically and then lowered down to his bed to see his gifts on the screen.   
He stayed like that for a while, filled with conflicted feelings. After a few minutes he turned the camera towards his window to record the outside. There was a pretty good view of the lake in the distance and the road that went towards it. He followed the road with the camera and then slowly zoomed in towards the lake. He was feeling a bit proud for getting used to the controls so fast before he caught a sudden movement at the top right corner of the screen. He paused before lifting to see what that movement was.   
What he saw almost made him drop his camera. His breath hitched up as he stared bug eyed to the screen. There was… something slender and red sitting at the shore, looking deep into the lake. Sydney was trying to understand if it was some really weird looking bush when it raised its head and looked right at the camera, as if it knew exactly where it was being watched from. Not even a second after that it dashed off from the view, leaving Sydney dumbfounded. Once he got to himself he quickly looked around with the camera, but the creature was nowhere to be found.   
“What the fuck…” Sydney murmured under his breath. He then remembered the recording and hastily opened the files on the camera. He fast forwarded the parts of him recording the room and his gifts and paused when he got to the shore. His furrowed his brows as he stared at the red blur on the screen. He didn’t get it. The creature that looked so clearly before, now looked all smudged. He carefully moved forward, frame by frame, to the point the thing turned towards the camera. It didn’t look any different except Sydney could see three blurry black dots at the place the face was supposed to be. The image filled him with a weird familiarity and dread as he kept looking.   
Finally Sydney shuddered and closed off the camera. He picked up his gifts and put them on his desk before getting into the bed. He hoped he wouldn’t dream tonight because he knew, if he did; that thing would be haunting them.


	3. Seeing Things

The consistent sound of the alarm forced Sydney to open his eyes. He grumpily rubbed his face and turned to turn off the alarm. His paw stood still on the clock as he looked at the top of the desk. His gifts were still scattered on it. He felt a pit forming in his stomach when his eyes stuck on the camera. That thing he recorded yesterday night made him lose enough sleep that he was pretty sure he would end up sleeping in class. It wouldn’t be the first time he did that but the reason this time wasn’t staying up late to read comics under the blankets. He also didn’t know how to tell the others about this or even if he should at the first place. Well, he did have proof; if you can count a red blur on the camera proof.  
“Fucking great.” Sydney sighed as he got off his bed and changed his clothes. Maybe he could just go to school and forget about this. Act like it never happened. Shouldn’t be hard, right? He was used to pretending for most of his life anyway.  
“Sydney, the bus is going to arrive soon. Come eat something before you leave.” His mother’s voice came from the kitchen. Sydney looked back at his clock on the desk. Yup, he has been standing at the middle of his room for ten minutes.  
“Just fucking marvelous.” Sydney groaned and quickly grabbed his backpack before getting out of his room. Seriously, this day just couldn’t start any worse.  
But of course he was very wrong. And he realized that when he looked at the only empty seat left in the bus with horror. Chase was refusing to look at Sydney as he kept his gaze outside the window. Jenna and TJ were sitting on the seats right behind it, trying to look as casual as possible. Jenna was doing a great job as she was focusing on her book. Although it could actually be just her not giving a shit. TJ however couldn’t help himself from stealing glances as he tried to act like he was texting someone but Sydney was definitely sure he was just typing gibberish right now.  
Sydney sighed and sat down on the seat. Putting as much distance between them as physically possible without him falling off the seat. He put this bag between them and rested his head at the back, closing his eyes. He could feel a headache threatening to form.  
“Hey.” The voice coming from his left was so low he would almost not hear it. He opened one eye and looked at the otter next to him. Who was still looking out the window.  
“What?” Sydney responded, perhaps a bit more aggressive than he intended. He didn’t feel as angry as he did yesterday but he was too tired to care right now. Chase finally turned and gave him a look, almost a frown.  
“What got up your ass?” Chase questioned equally aggressive, but his was intentional of course. TJ, that definitely wasn’t eavesdropping, cringed at the profanity.  
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Sydney closed his eye back and rubbed his forehead. The headache was there now. He really didn’t wanna deal with this and he cursed at himself for biting back.  
“Well, sorry for trying to talk to you. It was my mistake.” Chase scoffed and turned back to the window. Part of Sydney was thankful that Chase didn’t drag out the argument but another part was feeling bad for lashing at Chase when he was trying to start a conversation. So he took a deep breath to calm down before turning to him.  
“Sorry, couldn’t sleep and having a shitty headache right now.” Sydney tried to reason but it seemed to not work because Chase turned with a cocked brow.  
“Oh, so you did have something up your ass last night.” TJ almost gasped loudly at the remark as if he wasn’t even trying to look like he wasn’t listening in. Sydney ignored TJ’s reaction and decided he had enough trying to make peace.  
“And since you are so fucking peachy all the time does that mean you get your ass rammed every night?” Chase’s ears glowed red to the response and this time TJ literally gasped out loud, apparently not caring if he gets noticed right now.  
“Can you guys calm it down please? Can’t we have a day without you two arguing for once?” Jenna had to intervene because the lynx that was sitting next to her looked like he was about to tear his ears off. Chase looked like he wanted to say something but he scoffed and turned back to the window.  
Sydney was right about one thing. He did fell asleep at class. Which as expected, resulted with him getting scolded by the teacher. Honestly he wasn’t too bothered by it. Instead some kid smirking at his face behind the teacher’s back bothered him more. He wanted to punch his face in but he knew it would only get him into more trouble. Maybe he could get Flynn to punch him at lunch break, he thought. Flynn would be okay with it if he gave him a call probably.  
When the lunch break came however, he ended up deciding that he didn’t want Flynn to get into trouble either. So in the end he just sat at the usual table their group always sits at. He would actually prefer to eat alone today but thanks to the dining hall hierarchy, all the other tables were taken by other groups. Thankfully rest of the group made sure Sydney and Chase sat as far from each other as possible.  
“Thank God we got P.E. after lunch break. Its way more fun I think.” TJ was eating the food he brought from home. Normally others would be jealous of him because he didn’t had to eat cafeteria food like the rest of them but this time he just had salad with him so everyone was content with their sandwiches.  
“Lucky you. I have Math still.” Leo frowned at his sandwich before taking a big bite.  
“I dunno man, I prefer history over P.E. honestly. Never been good with sports.” Chase commented before starting to eat his own sandwich.  
Everyone kept making small talk as they eat their lunch. Sydney didn’t join the conversations and others didn’t try to pull him in. The lunch quickly passed like this and to Sydney’s pleasant surprise the classes after that didn’t drag on for too long either. At the last minutes of the class Sydney kept watching the clock at the wall as if that was going to make it go faster. The classes might have gone over with a breeze but the last twenty minutes seemed like eternity.  
The so awaited sound of the school bell was like music to his ears. Everyone flooded out to the corridors and exited the school. Bunch of them started waiting for the bus to Echo while others went to their houses in Payton with the local bus or their parent’s cars. The group continued their small talks from the lunch break as they waited for the bus. This time Sydney felt a bit more excluded because he didn’t have his lunch to keep him occupied and now the fact that everyone was straight up trying to ignore him became more apparent than before. He tried to not mind it because he didn’t think he would feel comfortable talking like nothing happened yesterday.  
When the bus finally arrived the group was almost out of topics to talk about. This time Sydney made sure to get a seat to himself away from Chase. As Carl sat with Chase and Jenna sat with TJ again, Leo was left out but instead of sitting with Sydney he went and sat with one of the jocks from the soccer team. Instead a bat guy sat next to Sydney. He recognized him as he was in the same class as Sydney. Sydney was trying to remember if the bat’s name was Michael or something like that, when a thin voice asked him a question from his right.  
“Huh?” Sydney turned to the gray bat and saw him looking at him questioningly.  
“You were that guy teacher scolded. Sydney, right?” A small, toothy smile appeared on the muzzle of the bat. Sydney noticed right then it was the same guy that was smirking at him while he was being scolded.  
“Yeah… You were enjoying the show I hope.” Sydney sneered. The bat raised his hands defensively, an apologetic smile on his face.  
“Hey, sorry about that. You looked so nonchalant about it I couldn’t help it. You looked pretty cool honestly.” The compliment made Syd soften a bit. He sighed and looked away.  
“Thanks, I guess. Sorry but I couldn’t remember your name. Was it Michael?” Sydney turned back to the bat and saw him chuckling. He felt relieved to see he didn’t hurt the bat’s feelings. He didn’t seem like a bad person after all.  
“Close enough. Its Micha. Nice to officially meet you.” Micha extended his small gray paw for a shake. Sydney paused for a second after shaking the paw with a smile.  
Micha and Sydney kept talking about this and that until it was time for the bat to leave. Micha waved a paw for goodbye before getting off the bus. Sydney felt a bit sad that his company was gone but thankfully there wasn’t that long time left until his stop arrived. Well… his and Chase’s actually. Since the two had to walk a bit together everyday until they split up at the end of the street, walking the rest to their houses. Sydney didn’t look forward to it. It wasn’t the first time when they had to walk together after a fight but it was always quite awkward.  
“Looks like you made friend.” Speak of the devil, Sydney thought. He looked up the seat in front of him to see Chase staring at him from above the headrest.  
“We just talked once. That doesn’t makes us friends immediately.” Sydney frowned. He couldn’t tell if Chase was trying to find a way to piss him off again or just trying to make a conversation. He had a strong feeling that it was the former.  
“That is how friendships start, you know. You gotta start by talking first.” Chase smiled smugly.  
“I know how it works, smartass. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be stuck with you.”  
“You say it like being friends with me is a bad thing.” Chase rolled his eyes when Sydney gave him a meaningful look.  
Chase took a look outside and got off his seat. Sydney checked outside too to see they have arrived to their stop. He got up and followed Chase. They got off the bus and started walking the same way. They didn’t talk while walking and the point where they were going to part ways was on sight now. However just like the last minutes of the school, the distance seemed to drag on for too long. It seemed to start bothering Chase as well because the corners of his muzzle started to tug down to a sour expression.  
Just the moment Sydney was almost definitely sure something was very, very wrong; he heard a voice coming from his side. It sounded like it came from a bush that was between two houses. Sydney stopped to turn and look carefully. Chase stopped as well when he noticed Sydney wasn’t walking.  
“What’s wr-” Chase started to ask but he was quickly shushed by Sydney with a raised paw. Chase was about to retort until he looked at the bush Sydney was looking at.  
That’s when he took a step back, eyes wide with horror. His reaction caught Sydney’s attention. When he looked back at the bush is when he saw it too. It was something pale. Almost completely white, with three familiar holes instead of a mouth and eyes. It was staring at them from the bush, only it’s face visible. Sydney tried to comprehend what he was seeing. If it was a rock that he simply didn’t notice before. But those thoughts disappeared, when the ‘face’ disappeared the moment Sydney blinked. He blinked again and again as if it was going to make it appear again. His heart was beating in his ears, making it the only thing he could hear at the moment.  
His haze dissolved when he felt a paw desperately squeeze his arm. He jumped at reflex and turned to see Chase clinging to him. His eyes were still glued at the bush but he slowly muttered a question to Sydney.  
“Did… Did you see it too?”


End file.
